From Album and Sex Tape Sales to ‘Celeb Rehab’ Bashing: The Fallout From Mindy McCready’s Suicide

As of Tuesday, two days after her tragic suicide, the country singer’s 1996 debut single, “Ten Thousand Angels,” had catapulted to No. 79 on the iTunes Songs chart – putting her ahead of Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me,” One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” and recent Grammy-winner Miguel’s “Adorn.”

Also, two of her five albums, gained some serious tread on iTunes’ Albums chart. Her 2000 Super Hits collection, which sells for $5.99, is currently at No. 43, and her debut, Ten Thousand Angels, is at No. 83.

Although Apple PR tells omg! the company does not track sales, it’s probably safe to assume both the single “Ten Thousand Angels” and both albums were nowhere near even being on any charts before her death.

But there’s one piece of McCready media that fans will no long be able to get their hands on: her 2010 sex tape.

Vivid Entertainment, which has released XXX videos starring Kim Kardashian and Kendra Wilkinson, has decided to pull “Baseball Mistress,” which was named in reference to her decade-long affair with married New York Yankees pitcher, Roger Clemens … even though it starred McCready and a boyfriend named “Peter.” In between McCready and Peter’s steamy scenes, she dished on her romps with Clemens despite him “having a lot of problems” with erectile dysfunction, and compared his bedroom skills to her former fiancé, actor Dean Cain.

"The situation surrounding Mindy's death is so tragic and sad,” Vivid Entertainment founder/co-chairman Steven Hirsch, tells omg! in an exclusive statement. “We decided to stop marketing her tape as a gesture of respect."

Vivid declined to provide the sales figures for McCready’s video, as per company practice.

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Mindy McCready in concert. (Brad Barket/WireImage)

Another piece of the entertainment world that hangs in the balance is “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,” which McCready appeared on in early 2010 to get help with her dependence on alcohol and Oxycontin. McCready’s death on Sunday, which capped off weeks of binge-drinking according to her father, marked the fifth person from the show – and the third on her season alone – to have relapsed and died.

Since McCready’s death on Sunday, Dr. Drew and his VH1 show have faced some serious backlash, with singer Richard Marx even comparing him to Dr. Kevorkian on Twitter because both men had “similar results” with their patients. A source close to Dr. Drew tells omg!, “Pointing blame or insinuating a TV show has anything at all to do with Mindy's death diminishes Mindy's struggle with mental illness and substance abuse and perpetuates the stigmas that keep people from getting the help they need.”

Bob Forrest, Head Counselor on "Celebrity Rehab," shared his feelings on McCready's passing on "omg! Insider" on Monday, and explained that the singer’s problems were not so simple. "One of the key things is Mindy had two, possibly three or four interwoven problems," including personality disorder and addiction, he said. "If one doesn’t get you the other one does ... They all play together in this perfect storm.”

But another addiction expert agrees that the popular TV program is not the way to properly administer treatment to people in need. Doug Thorburn, author of AlcoholismMyths and Realities, explains to omg! that Alcoholics Anonymous was created with the “understanding that alcoholism (and most other-drug addiction) causes egomania” and therefore “requires anonymity … ‘Celebrity Rehab’ and other shows like it violate this essential prerequisite to recovery; hence, so many relapses and, even, suicides.”

And as for the reports that “Celebrity Rehab” pays its famous patients $250,000 for their 21-day stay on the show, Thorburn adds that the monetary incentive only acts like an enabler. “Give me two equally down addicts, one with money and one without: the one without has the greater chance of getting abstinent and achieving long-term sobriety,” he adds. “Hence, I’m not sure rehab really does anyone any good other than to get them started.”

A rep for Dr. Drew informed omg! that he will not be doing any interviews at this time. A separate rep for VH1's “Celebrity Rehab” declined comment on the situation, but did state that "The show is not currently on the schedule nor is it in production."